Chapter Summaries

City Lord Xia explained that the Spatial Node was a strategically vital, stable cross-realm passage, though the Alliance had given up competing for it because of the dungeon’s danger and unknown contest rules. Chen Ming reached the final stage and found several platforms appearing in the void, where he encountered two other Class Changers who would contest the Node.

• City Lord Xia told Inspector Lin and Inspector Jiang that a Spatial Node created a safe cross-realm passage and held broader passage rights.
• City Lord Xia explained that the Alliance had abandoned the suspected Spatial Node, but planned to destroy the dungeon if Chen Ming failed to claim it.
• Chen Ming stood before the rhombus atop the peak, unable to cross the void, as five platforms appeared with stairways leading to them.
• Chen Ming recognized the Dim Star Class Changer, the SSS-Class Nightmare Adjudicator, who accused him of stripping the Abyss of resources with a hundred-thousand-strong army.
• Chen Ming also saw an SSS-Class God-Serving Priest, and the Nightmare Adjudicator mocked him after realizing he was a C-Class Shield Guard.

Chen Ming realized the five platforms occupied separate spaces, then watched the other contestants use spatial resources to lure a Shadow-Gliding Serpent into an attack. He figured the final stage was a contest of who could bait the serpent with the most resources, while the Dim Star black dwarf reacted angrily to his remark about Dim Star’s resources.

• Chen Ming studied the barriers separating the five platforms and recognized the spatial turbulence between them.
• City Lord Xia explained that the Elf Race was an ally of the Huaxia Alliance, prompting excited reactions from the young people watching.
• A level-19 Shadow-Gliding Serpent appeared, and the elf woman and the Dim Star black dwarf placed spatial resources above their platforms.
• The serpent bit the elf woman’s resource, became solid, and was struck by her powerful palm attack.
• Chen Ming deduced that the final stage involved baiting the serpent with spatial resources, and the black dwarf flew into a rage when Chen Ming said the resources on Dim Star had already been hunted down.

Chen Ming watched the other contestants lure beasts with spatial resources and discovered that defeating them created steps toward the summit. He held back because he had only one spatial resource, while spectators feared he could not compete without more.

• The Black Dwarf used a spatial resource to lure an Azure-Wing Spirit Beast and began fighting it.
• Chen Ming inferred that contestants had to lure beasts with spatial resources, but kept his Phantom Void Horn Fragment unused while he watched to learn what defeating a beast accomplished.
• The elven woman defeated the Shadow-Gliding Serpent, whose remains formed a new step toward the summit.
• People watching through the Spatial Mirror Image realized contestants had to spend spatial resources to build their stairways and worried that Chen Ming had none.
• City Lord Xia regretted that the Alliance had not prepared spatial resources for Chen Ming.

Chen Ming watched the elf woman and the black dwarf compete to reach the summit while he appeared to have no way to contest the Spatial Node. As the black dwarf neared victory and the elf woman risked everything, Chen Ming finally stepped onto a platform and hinted that he had a way to fight back.

• City Lord Xia accepted that Chen Ming lacked the spatial resources to compete and planned to destroy the dungeon after he emerged.
• Chen Ming sat back and watched the elf woman and the black dwarf lure and fight exotic beasts, judging their progress and provoking the dwarf.
• The elf woman and the black dwarf secretly competed as their platforms advanced, with the dwarf pulling ahead because he handled groups of beasts more effectively.
• The black dwarf came within six steps of the summit, while the elf woman, still thirteen steps away, threw out eight spatial resources for a desperate push.
• Chen Ming stepped onto a platform, stretched, and asked the black dwarf to guess how he had reached the Abyss.

Chen Ming crossed the Boundary Turbulence between dungeon platforms and emerged on Dim Star’s platform, stunning the black dwarf and the observers in the Abyss. With his full-state duration nearly over, he killed five of the six mutant beasts that attacked him in one strike.

• Chen Ming walked into the Boundary Turbulence separating his platform from the black dwarf’s, and the barrier filled with chaotic currents as he vanished inside.
• The black dwarf watched in disbelief, while people in the Abyss wondered whether Chen Ming could survive after seeing him cross a spatial rift before.
• Chen Ming endured the spatial forces and emerged onto Dim Star’s platform as the black dwarf fought six exotic beasts nearby.
• The six mutant beasts turned and charged Chen Ming, who summoned the Pale Flame giant and cut five of them in half with one slash.

Chen Ming crossed the Boundary Turbulence to Dim Star’s platform, killed five exotic beasts, and confronted the Black Dwarf. The Black Dwarf tried to escape by using his clone to reach the summit, but Chen Ming’s attack destroyed the clone and left him trapped on the stairs.

• Chen Ming killed five level 19 exotic beasts in one strike, completing five steps on the platform.
• The Black Dwarf realized Chen Ming could reach the summit before him and feared confronting him.
• The Spatial Mirror Image returned to normal, revealing Chen Ming alive on Dim Star’s side and prompting the Abyss onlookers to celebrate his crossing.
• The Black Dwarf charged the last exotic beast while sending his ghostlike clone toward the summit stairs.
• Chen Ming stomped the platform and struck with a blazing blade, forcing the Black Dwarf to switch places with his clone.
• Chen Ming’s blade destroyed the clone, wounding the Black Dwarf and leaving him trapped on the stairs with nowhere to retreat.

Chen Ming completed the staircase to the summit after the Black Dwarf died trying to cross the void beyond its final step. He reached the Spatial Node and began establishing a mental connection with it, discovering that it was both an item and a spatial-type all-attribute resource.

• The Black Dwarf rushed toward the summit, but Chen Ming severed one of his arms and the void shattered and consumed him.
• Chen Ming collected the Black Dwarf's dropped resources, then killed the last Crystal Guardian on the platform.
• The beast's light completed the staircase, and the elf woman saw Chen Ming's route to the summit open while still fighting ten beasts.
• Chen Ming crossed the summit's intense pressure and found a half-fist-sized Spatial Node identified as an unclaimed item and an all-attribute resource.
• Chen Ming used his spiritual power to try to establish a mental connection with the Spatial Node.

Chen Ming claimed ownership of the Spatial Node, used it to help the trapped elf woman, and began awakening a class skill. Outside the dungeon, he unexpectedly demonstrated Spatial Teleportation before the gathered Class Changers.

• Chen Ming established ownership of the Spatial Node and learned it connected five realms and could link to other owned nodes.
• Chen Ming used his control of the node to fire energy blasts at the exotic beasts attacking the elf woman, killing six of them.
• Chen Ming connected to the Spatial Node and started awakening a class skill as its attribute energy surged through his spiritual space.
• Outside the dungeon, the mirror image vanished after Chen Ming cleared Climb the Highest Peak, and the gathered Class Changers watched him awaken a skill.
• Chen Ming vanished from the earthen slope and reappeared above the crowd using Spatial Teleportation.

Chen Ming awakened the SSS-Rank Specialized Skill Spatial Domain, which let him manipulate space, teleport, and hover in midair. As City Lord Xia and Inspector Lin heard his dismissive assessment of the skill, the crowd below remained stunned by how far ahead he was.

• Chen Ming appeared hovering above the Abyss, shocking the gathered Class Changers with his spatial traversal and ability to fly.
• Chen Ming examined Spatial Domain and found he could shape a five-meter domain, swap sections to travel through space, and suspend himself in the air.
• Chen Ming realized the specialized skill would strengthen his spatial abilities as he leveled up and awakened further skills.
• City Lord Xia and Inspector Lin overheard Chen Ming call the SSS-grade ability relatively ordinary and reacted with disbelief.

After clearing the large cross-realm dungeon, Chen Ming gained three levels and secured the Spatial Node, which City Lord Xia proposed having the Alliance manage while Chen Ming retained ownership. Chen Ming agreed, then upgraded his equipment and used Rune Stones to maximize its bonuses.

• Chen Ming reached Level 13 after completing the first clear of 'Climb the Highest Peak' and claimed its Spatial Node.
• City Lord Xia praised Chen Ming and explained that the Alliance wanted to help manage the Spatial Node without taking its ownership.
• Chen Ming agreed to let the Alliance manage the node and discuss the arrangement with him in Yujing City.
• Chen Ming reunited with Qin Zhixue, Lin Wei, and Sun Yang, then upgraded his Epic equipment to Tier 2 using crystals.
• Chen Ming used his stored Rune Stones to maximize the bonuses on all five pieces of equipment.

Chen Ming’s equipment and Spatial Node greatly boosted his attributes, and Inspector Lin announced the Provincial Selection rankings. The Morning Light Squad dominated both categories, leaving the other teams stunned as the results were revealed.

• Chen Ming checked his improved attributes, noting his 12,000 Constitution, 1,000-plus Recovery, and increased combat power.
• Inspector Lin appeared above the Abyss with a mechanical creature and began announcing the Provincial Selection results.
• The Morning Light Squad ranked first in the Abyss Exterior Rankings with 27,850 points plus an uncertain extra score, far ahead of the Golden Steel Squad.
• Inspector Lin explained that the Morning Light Squad had hunted beyond Zone One, but said the additional score would not count toward the official results.
• The Morning Light Squad also ranked first in the Abyss Internal Rankings with 10,600 points, while Qin Zhixue’s SSS-grade awakening and other teams’ breakthroughs drew attention to Lu Shan’s failure to surpass his grade.

After the rankings confirmed Morning Light Squad and Golden Steel Squad as the two selected teams, City Lord Xia encouraged the remaining city teams and granted them City Lord Tokens for the coming expansion of the Exotic Beast Forest. Inspector Lin then told Chen Ming and Sun Yang that their squad would travel to Yujing City, where the Alliance headquarters was located.

• Inspector Lin announced that Morning Light Squad and Golden Steel Squad had earned the two available Alliance slots, leaving the other city teams disappointed.
• City Lord Xia reassured the unsuccessful teams that they still had important roles and would help support the Alliance’s future.
• City Lord Xia distributed City Lord Tokens and said their holders would serve as key forces in Jiangnan Province when the Great Expansion began.
• Chen Ming received a token marked Cloud Sea City, and Sun Yang asked Inspector Lin when the expansion would start.
• Inspector Lin said the ten selected teams had an undecided, more important task and directed them to Yujing City, the Alliance headquarters.

Chen Ming and the Jiangnan Delegation left Abyss-Border City for Yujing, while the city’s higher-ups worried that Chen Ming could keep entering the Abyss through the Spatial Node. During the trip, Inspector Jiang hinted that an Elf Race exchange meeting and an opportunity to improve skills awaited the teams in Yujing.

• Chen Ming and the other teams boarded the energy vessel, and Abyss-Border City's higher-ups lamented that he had emptied the first outer zone of the Abyss.
• The higher-ups realized Chen Ming could return to the Abyss through the Spatial Node whenever he wished and feared he would take more of the city's resources.
• Chen Ming asked Inspectors Lin and Jiang whether an energy tide had appeared in Yujing, and Inspector Jiang said there were no signs of one.
• Inspector Jiang teased the group by refusing to explain the promised resource, then revealed that an Elf Race exchange meeting and a skill-improvement opportunity awaited them in Yujing.

Chen Ming considered how urgently he needed to raise his skills as City Lord Xia traveled toward Yujing City and argued with Pei Jiuge over Jiangnan Province’s selections. Xia then proposed ranking the Morning Light Squad first among the Alliance teams, leaving the other city lords stunned.

• Chen Ming reflected on the potential benefits of leveling his skills, especially Annihilation Strike, Spatial Domain, Battle-Hardened, and Shield of Reversal.
• Pei Jiuge questioned the selection of the Morning Light Squad after reviewing its members, and demanded to meet them in person.
• Xia refused to let Pei Jiuge interfere with Jiangnan Province’s selections, and Pei Jiuge warned him that he would hold him responsible if the Alliance suffered losses.
• City Lord Luo intervened in the argument and asked Xia to explain why the Morning Light Squad included several lower-ranked members; Xia said he had selected them and would bear responsibility.
• Xia proposed placing the Morning Light Squad first and moving the Purple Firmament Team and Yuqing Squad to second and third, prompting City Lord Luo to question whether he was serious.

Xia Chuan revealed that Chen Ming’s Morning Light Squad had secured ownership of a Spatial Node and pushed for the squad to rank first, prompting a contest against Purple Firmament Team and Yuqing. Meanwhile, Chen Ming raised his spiritual potential to 29%, and Xia Chuan arrived to take the team into Yujing City.

• Pei Jiuge opposed Xia Chuan’s proposal to rank Morning Light Squad first, so Xia Chuan called a City Lord Conference to decide the matter.
• Xia Chuan told the city lords that Chen Ming had cleared a large cross-realm dungeon, defeated two SSS-Rank Class-Changers, and gained ownership of a Spatial Node.
• Xia Chuan described Chen Ming as a likely dual-class user with an SSS-Rank spatial class, but Pei Jiuge still refused to let Morning Light Squad take first place outright.
• City Lord Luo proposed that Purple Firmament Team and Yuqing compete with Morning Light Squad, and Xia Chuan and Pei Jiuge agreed.
• Chen Ming absorbed pure spiritual resources until his spiritual potential reached 29%, then decided to seek more resources in another Abyss.
• Xia Chuan arrived in Yujing City and urged Chen Ming to show Purple Firmament Team who the Alliance’s true number one was.

Chen Ming and his companions arrived at Yujing City, where City Lord Xia explained that Chen Ming would compete against the Purple Firmament Team for first place. Xia also revealed that the team's captain, Gu Feng, was Pei Jiuge's student and would challenge Chen Ming over Xia and Pei's rivalry; the woman they had both loved had died.

• Xia Chuan told Chen Ming he had accepted the challenge to compete with the Purple Firmament Team for first place.
• Xia Chuan led Chen Ming and the others through Yujing City to the Alliance Headquarters and warned them that its grounds were a no-fly zone.
• Xia Chuan warned Chen Ming that Gu Feng, captain of the Purple Firmament Team, would target him because Pei Jiuge had trained Gu Feng.
• Xia Chuan explained that he and Pei Jiuge were rivals in love.
• Sun Yang asked who had won their rivalry, and Xia Chuan replied that neither had because the woman they loved had died.

Xia Chuan escorted Chen Ming and the other teams to their Elite Department residences and told them to report to the northern training grounds. There, Chen Ming discovered that the Alliance’s previous-generation trainees were gathered to challenge the new teams’ place in the program.

• Xia Chuan recalled that his wife had died in a dungeon battle twenty years earlier, then instructed the teams to gather at the northern training grounds at two o’clock.
• Inspector Lin led Chen Ming and his companions to their villas and explained the districts of the Alliance headquarters, while Chen Ming began meditating in his room.
• At the northern sparring grounds, Xia Chuan and other officials watched the previous generation’s hundred teams, who had been selected as Elite Department trainees.
• Inspector Lin explained that the previous generation resented the Alliance’s shift toward this year’s geniuses, so the ten new teams would have to prove their potential to keep their favored treatment.
• Chen Ming arrived at the arena with Qin Zhixue and the others, sensed the assembled teams, and found that they included numerous S- and SS-Rank Class-Changers.

Chen Ming and the Morning Light Squad met the other teams at the Alliance gathering, and their unusual class lineup sparked rumors that they had been selected through connections. The chapter left Chen Ming ready to prove the doubters wrong as the gathered teams began to focus on him.

• Gao Ziyun introduced himself to Chen Ming and secretly checked the Morning Light Squad's classes, then left stunned by their lineup of SS-, A-, B-, and C-rank classes.
• Gao Ziyun's teammates learned that the squad had three members below S-rank, and word spread among the gathered teams that the four-person Jiangnan Province squad had been selected through favoritism.
• Several team members questioned Lu Shan about the Morning Light Squad, and Lu Shan struggled to explain that Chen Ming's squad had earned its place and warned them not to provoke Chen Ming.
• Sun Yang guessed that others suspected the Morning Light Squad had gotten in through connections, while Lin Wei said they were used to people judging their team composition.
• Someone approached Chen Ming and asked if he was the Chen Ming from Jiangnan Province.

Chen Ming and the Morning Light Squad drew attention at the martial arts arena entrance as rivals mistook his selection for favoritism. Gu Feng and Su Lingyue arrived with the two SSS-rank teams, and Gu Feng challenged Chen Ming to a personal match before the teams were admitted.

• A square-faced Class-Changer accused Chen Ming of being selected unfairly, while Lu Shan denied telling them that and the onlookers misread his fear as evidence of wrongdoing.
• Lu Shan's challengers vowed to expose Chen Ming at the arena, even as Lu Shan warned them they would understand once they saw him compete.
• Gu Feng's Purple Firmament Squad and Su Lingyue's Yuqing Squad arrived, and the crowd recognized them as the two SSS-rank teams.
• Gu Feng introduced himself and challenged Chen Ming to a personal match on behalf of City Lord Pei, and Chen Ming accepted on behalf of City Lord Xia.
• Su Lingyue questioned Chen Ming's rank and his teammates, while the crowd incorrectly concluded the match was about City Lord Pei intervening against favoritism.
• Arena guards announced that the ten teams could enter.

The ten teams entered the martial arena and faced an overwhelming show of force from five hundred elites of the previous class. Chen Ming and the Morning Light Squad reached the center without being affected, drawing the Alliance higher-ups’ attention as the other teams finally arrived.

• The five hundred elites revealed their class states and combined their pressure against the ten teams as they entered the arena.
• The teams recognized the pressure as a test and advanced toward the center, with the Purple Firmament Team and Yuqing Team leading.
• Chen Ming used his SSS-grade Spatial Domain to shield Qin Zhixue, Lin Wei, and Sun Yang, while his own immunity kept him unaffected.
• Chen Ming and the Morning Light Squad overtook the leading teams and reached the center first, surprising the spectators and City Lords.
• The remaining nine teams reached Chen Ming’s position, and many looked at him with complicated expressions after seeing him ignore the pressure.